Girl battles cancer and wins, then she's expelled for missing school
In August 2012, Rose McGrath began the fight for her life.
The US girl was diagnosed with acute lymphoblastic leukaemia – cancer of the white blood cells.
But she was determined to battle the disease and win.
Two-and-a-half years later, the 12-year-old girl stopped her treatment. She had triumphed over cancer.
Then came the devastating news.
She was being dismissed from school for her low-attendance record and poor academic performance.
Rose said while crying: "I didn't do anything wrong, but they still got rid of me."
'She's not having fun, she's sick'
The notice of her dismissal from St. Joseph's Middle School, a private Catholic school in the US state of Michigan, came in the mail last week.
Rose's mother, Mrs Barbara McGrath, said:
"It's not like she's out at the mall having fun, she's in her bed, sick with nausea, vomiting, abdominal pain.
She's not having fun, she's sick. She'd be at school if she could."
She added that her daughter was still recovering from the sickness.
"Even though she's now done with her treatments you still have a very long recovery process because you've basically just put two and a half years of poison into your body.
You're not recovering overnight."
'When I'm at school I'm like everyone else'
Rose told WWMT: "When I'm at home, I'm sick, I don't feel well, no one else does that. But when I'm at school I'm like everyone else."
Despite only attending 32 full days of school this year, Rose was on track to pass her core classes, her parents claimed.
In the notice, the school said it had tried to work with Rose to reduce her workload, reported CBS News.
Father John Fleckenstein, with Battle Creek Area Catholic Schools, said: "These were extraordinary circumstances, but so many accommodations were made we felt eventually it became a point where we really had to help Rose, by being able to make sure that she was getting the assistance that she needed and to learn."
Rose's parents have filed a complaint with the Office for Civil Rights.
Sources: CBS News, Fox8, WWMT, Mail Online
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